Growth through conflict
by Lutharo
Summary: Gohan has to face many challenges in his life, school, hunger, dark evils attempting world domination, hunger, his mother and so on... this is the tale of him dealing with these challenges. High school onwards, no Buu. Rated for language and violence


Ok, this is my first DBZ fanfiction, so I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball or Dragonball Z, or anything associated with it

...

It was a typical peaceful day in the 439 region. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the faint sound of rushing water filled the air, and a spiky haired 7 year old had just been bitch-slapped face first into the side of a mountain.

'Come on Goten!' called Gohan, suspended in midair, staring at the crater he's just made with his brother. 'I know you can take more than that, hurry up and get out here already.'

'I'm not slow!' came the muffled response. Closely followed by a more audible 'see I'm already here,' from behind Gohan, seconds before he received a powerful kick to the side of the head.

Well, that had been the chibi's intention anyway; it all fell apart when Gohan's fist suddenly appeared in his stomach. But, not to be perturbed, Goten immediately folded over the punch and delivered a vengeance ki shot straight back at his brother.

This one contacted. Truth be told it more than contacted.

Not yet in full control of his power, the young warrior poured too much into the blast, resulting in the mountain behind Gohan, being cleaved in two from base to peak.

Luckily though, no wildlife was harmed in this somewhat ludicrous display of power. All the local animals, from dinosaurs to ladybugs, had long since learnt to avoid the area, at least those that hadn't been eaten by hunger-crazed demi-saiyans. This was of huge benefit to the brothers, as it provided them with a peaceful, quiet area where they could calmly beat the shit out of each other to their hearts content.

Eventually the dust cleared to reveal a laughing Gohan and a sheepish looking Goten floating exactly as they had been before, the only noticeable difference being a slight singeing of Gohan's clothes.

'That last one got a bit out of hand huh Goten?'

'I'm sorry, I didn't mean too!' laughed Goten, hand behind his head in the typical Son grin.

'It's alright, just try to keep it in control next time'

'Ok! I'll get you this time I promise!'

'Oh no you don't tyke, you're time is up, mum's probably wondering where you are by now.'

'Awww no fair, why do I have to go and study while you get to stay out here and train?' whined the demi-saiyan.

'It's not that bad, I have to study too! And besides, mum told me that she was baking a batch of cookies today, if you head back now, you might get some of them fresh from the oven.'

Gohan couldn't help but smile, for weeks now he had been, unsuccessfully, trying to teach the after-image technique to his little brother. With the promise of cookies however, Goten had finally inadvertently mastered the ancient skill. It looked like he'd finally found Goten's muse.

Shaking his head in exasperation at his discovery, Gohan lowered himself to the ground where he had set up base camp this morning, where his own meal awaited him.

In the past seven years since Goku's death, Gohan had fallen into a daily routine. Every day, he would rise at 6, don his weighted clothing, breakfast, and then train with Goten until 8. Next, he would have a second breakfast and spend the rest of the morning going through fighting forms, while reading/studying one of his text books. Then after a large lunch, he would spend the afternoon studying while practicing ki manipulation and control. Essentially moving a range of extremely-dense-potentially-planet-destroying ki balls in patterns while reciting texts or problems he'd had to commit to memory . Finally, he had dinner, relaxation, dessert and then sleep. All in all he found it to be a very successful routine, he studied enough to pass his mothers weekly tests, trained enough to have his energy level steadily rise, and meditated enough to keep his power under firm control.

Two days a week however, he and Goten would head to Capsule Corp; Goten to meet up with Trunks, and Gohan to get some work experience under Bulma in her lab. A role which he had quickly adapted to, speedily creating a niche for himself, and becoming invaluable to Bulma in the realization of her inventions.

Due to his vigilance in maintaining this scheme he had managed to achieve super saiyan level three some years back. A fact which he wisely decided to keep to himself, knowing that if he told the prince of saiyans, that Vegeta would likely pop a blood vessel.

Today was no different to any other day in his routine. And so, once Goten was no longer in sight, he quickly set down to some serious eating, so that he could get to work on the next phase of training schedule. Of course shadowing had long since lost any real affect by itself, the movements having become second nature to the teen. Instead now, due to the weighted clothing, it was more an effort to cram more muscle onto his body.

Several thousand motions, two physics texts and 5 hours later, he glanced down at his watch and realized that it was coming up to lunch time. Naturally this was one of his three favourite times of the day, however, it wasn't the unadulterated orgy of consumption that it should have been. Because, these days every meal was another skirmish in the ongoing eating contest between him and his brother.

Sure Gohan was older and larger, and had inherited a fair portion of his father's appetite; but Goten, Goten was a miniature eating machine. He hadn't just inherited a fraction of his father's appetite, he'd inherited all of it. And Gohan knew that if he didn't get there fast, it would all be gone.

Worried now for his stomach, Gohan decided to go full speed on his way home, powering up to the brink of Super Saiyan, he rose into the air and blasted towards his house, uprooting several trees by his passing.

He reached his house just in time to see his mother laying the heavily fortified picnic table for lunch. Goten was already in his seat, more drool than boy now, the only thing keeping him at bay, the ever present fear of the frying pan, and the rather disturbing discovery that the table was tasty too.

None of that was particularly strange though, what was strange was that his mum had clearly gone to an extra effort in making lunch today. Sure she usually went to a huge effort to feed the two demi-saiyans, but today the table was covered in Gohan's favourites, and was set out neatly, a sure sign that she wanted something.

'Welcome home honey,' a suspiciously cheerful Chi-chi exclaimed.

'Hungry' murmured Goten from behind her.

'Hey guy's what's all this about?' inquired Gohan.

'Well, you know that test I gave you a few weeks ago, the one I said was a warm up to the rest of the tests for that day?'

'Mhmm, what about it?'

'Hungry!'

'Well it was actually the admissions test to Orange Star High School, and you passed! Isn't that great!' beamed Chi-chi

'Ahhhh… ummm… sure… I guess'

'HUNGRY!' shouted an overly excited Goten, unable to control himself at the sight of all the food.

'NO GOTEN,' screamed Chi-chi, emphasizing her command with a frying pan, resulting in Goten being nailed into a nearby tree. He wisely kept his mouth shut from that point on, as he sulkily returned to the table.

'Anyway,' she said, turning back to her eldest, 'you start school on Monday, I think it's time you started interacting with some people your own age for once.'

'Why? I'm doing fine as it is at the moment'

'Rubbish, you can't spend the rest of your life off training; you need to get yourself a wife and some grandchildren, not to mention that going through school will get you formal qualifications!'

'But mum! I don't spend every day training, and I get work experience with Bulma!' whined Gohan, attempting to sidestep the issue of getting a girlfriend.

Chi-chi, not to be deterred, continued on as if he hadn't spoken 'I went and got your clothes and books yesterday, so you'll spend the rest of the weekend working through them, and then you'll be ready for school. In return I'll be making celebratory meals for the rest of today and tomorrow.'

Noticing that his mum had begun to toy with the handle of the frying pan once more, he decided that there was no use arguing and slumped into his chair, _'Maybe it won't be so bad,'_ he thought.

Goten meanwhile, had decided that conversation time was over and that gorging time had begun. So, with all the reserve of a mulcher, he began to demolish the food in front of him. Gohan, revived from his brooding by the sight of his lunch disappearing, began to work on his food, matching the little typhoon bowl for bowl.

Chi-chi meanwhile, took this to mean that she had won, and started eating her own relatively tiny portion while daydreaming about all the grandbabies she was sure that this plan of hers would bring.

...

Meanwhile…. Elsewhere

...

A man sat at his desk in a laboratory, his only company his thoughts. Before him, only half completed, sat his most recent diagram of his next possible creation.

It was lonely, here, alone, but that was why he was here, to embrace the solitude, for he enjoyed it. It was liberating in its oppression, and exciting in its monotony.

It was a perfect place to begin to realize his dreams, and ruin the dreams of others.

AA smile broke across the man's face at the thought.

...

Monday morning, 6:00 am

...

Gohan was lying peacefully in bed, half asleep and enjoying the calm of the morning, blissfully unaware that his little brother was about to piledrive him. Seconds later however, he became very aware of this fact, as his peaceful reverie was shattered by an orange clad ball of excitement.

'Breakfast, morning, school, wake up, eat, now, GOHAN,' chattered Goten, sadly enough utilizing the majority of his vocabulary that didn't involve fighting.

'Arghhh' was all he got as a response from his painfully conscious brother.

That wasn't enough for the chibi though, having been told that he had to get his brother up before he was allowed to eat.

'Up, up, up, up, up!,' punctuating each with a jump, 'it's time to wake up Gohan! Food, food, food, food, food, HUNGRY!'

No response. Annoyed now, he stopped jumping, and, sitting on Gohan's chest, leaned forward until he was face to face with him.

'Bacon' he whispered.

Gohan's eyes shot open, and before the chibi could blink he found himself seated at the table across from Gohan, who was almost trembling with excitement at the prospect of bacon.

'So Gohan, are you ready for school, you know where it is and everything?' Asked Chi-chi, as she swung a pigs worth of baconated meat onto the table before the hungry boys.

'Yeah of course, I just need to shower and I'm off' murmured Gohan around mouthfuls, _'Oh crap! I'd completely forgotten about school, why me?'_

Two minutes later the bacon was gone, as were the saiyans, one off to shower, the other chasing after a butterfly he'd noticed in the yard.

After leaving the table, Gohan showered, got dressed in the incredibly baggy clothes his mother had bought for him (knowing that he wouldn't want people to know how strong he was), gathered up his school gear and hurried back down the stairs. At the foot of the stairs he was met by Chi-chi, who presented him with is lunch capsule, and Goten, who had somehow convinced 7 or 8 butterflies to sit in his hair. Either that or he'd killed them and was saving them as a snack… Gohan decided he didn't want to know which.

Thanking his mom, and wisely bypassing his bug infested brother, Gohan made his way out the front door, and flew off in the direction of Satan City.

A few minutes of saiyan speed flying later, Gohan had reached Satan City, despite his previous statement to Chi-chi however, he had absolutely no idea where the school was.

'_Not a problem, I'll find it, though I should probably take it on foot from here on… don't want to be seen, and maybe I'll be able to get some directions on the way.'_

Landing, he proceeded through the town at a slow jog, which unfortunately still appeared to be a vaguely human blur to everyone else. Perhaps if he had paused and considered his actual speed for a moment he would have understood the puzzled looks he received when he stopped and asked people for directions. But he got answers, and that was all that mattered, he now knew where the school was, and knew that he had plenty of time to get there before his first class. Nonetheless, it was better to be early than possibly late and definitely frying-panned, so he decided he'd keep up the jog anyway.

He was about halfway to school when he noticed a bank robbery. A couple of thugs had got together, got their hands on some weapons and now seemed to think that they were invincible. A fact which, typically, scared the humans. Gohan on the other hand just started getting excited at the prospect of a fight. Sure a quick scan of their ki's indicated that they were about as dangerous to him as pop rocks, making it ridiculously one sided, but hey, he hadn't started this fight, they should have just been more careful.

Changing to super, so as to make sure that no one would be able to recognize him later, he calmly stepped out in front of the assembled crowd and began to approach of the robbers. For some strange reason, the police tried to stop him, one going so far as to attempt a tackle. In hindsight the officer would realize that tackling someone who was clearly on fire and distorting the laws of physics by his mere presence wasn't really his greatest moment.

Smiling at guts of the officer, Gohan gently pushed him aside with his ki; the officer awoke from a coma two months later induced by severe cranial trauma he'd received after reportedly running headfirst into an invisible wall, and then being hurled over a nearby car. Well not everyone was perfect.

Back at the present though, Gohan was still approaching the robbers. He counted four in total, all of normal human strength, but all armed to teeth, not that it made a difference, but it's the thought that counts. Unfortunately for the robbers, they didn't notice the look of super saiyan fueled rage, nor did they notice that he seemed to have small pieces of pavement orbiting him. As a result, they didn't realize that they didn't stand a chance.

'Kill the fool,' the boss calmly ordered.

Laughing maniacally, though foolishly, two of the goons aimed their state of the art submachine guns at the golden teen, and proceeded release a storm of bullets directly at him.

In their defence, they had good aim, almost all of the bullets hitting Gohan dead on mark; those that didn't harmlessly joined the gravity defying ring of cement that was floating around him. Those that did hit him were obliterated by the sheer amount of energy that the young warrior was exuding from his very pores.

'What's up with this kid boss?'

'It's just some kinda trick, just take him out then finish the job'

'Ok boss'

The first of the two, rushed forward aiming a blow at the golden warriors gut, but his punch met nothing but air, as the young fighter smoothly stepped around the punch and delivered a chop to the back of the poor man's neck, knocking him out. The second was a stupid as the first, also charging his opponent, this one was a bit better at martial arts though, so he aimed a leaping kick to the teens head. It looked good, until Gohan grabbed his ankle, spun him under then over arm and smashed him down face first into the stairs.

'_Two down, two to go' _thought an amused Gohan as he walked over the twitching robber.

The third robber was a bit better equipped than the first two. He pulled out an RPG, firing off a missile to show the punk who was boss. Said punk calmly puckered his lips he blew on the approaching missile. The missile, caught up in a cyclonic gale, spun in midair and was sent right back at the bewildered theif, impacting with the ground at his feet and skyrocketing him over the bank.

Turning to the last of them, the boss, Gohan phased out, or appeared to at least, and phased back in directly in front of him.

Snarling, the pulled out his pistol and fired off a few rounds into the young man's face, screaming in rage as he did so.

Unfortunately for him though, Gohan had placed a finger in the barrel of the gun, resulting in the gun rupturing when he pulled the pin, destroying it and sending splinters of shrapnel through the hands of the boss. Despite this though he continued to stand his ground, manning up to face his glowing foe.

Unfortunately for him though, the pistol had given Gohan an idea, grinning evilly he formed a gun shape with his fingers, took aim at the bosses shins, and fired a ki blast simultaneously at each shin. The plan had been to cause some bruising and make the boss give up the fight. The effect however was a complete shattering of the poor man's shins. Suffice to say that the Boss crumpled into a sobbing heap.

'_Okay, headcount,'_ thought Gohan, as he looked down at the crying form of the would-be-robber, '_one policeman mysteriously injured, four robbers taken down, and one crime bosses dignity completely shredded… Not bad really, I think my work here is done.'_

Casting one last look over the gaping crowd, Gohan allowed himself a smirk and then disappeared from the crowds view, only to walk out of a nearby alleyway moments later, powered down and inconspicuous once more.

Quietly elated, he began a leisurely stroll towards his school lost in his thoughts.

'_Well that was fun, maybe this won't be so bad after all, I might even find it enjo-'_

'Hey you, tell me what happened here!'

Surprised and taken aback by the abrupt question, the best Gohan could manage was a dull 'ummmm'.

'I asked you what happened here. So you'd better tell me all you know right now!'

Luckily by now Gohan had recovered himself and was able to take the situation in. The owner of the voice was a young woman of indeterminate age, at first glance her baggy clothes and girlishly styled hair made her look like she was in her early teens. But at a closer look at her face Gohan got the impression that she was probably closer to his own age. She was of moderate height, had long black hair that ended in two pigtails, clothes that were clearly chosen for ease of movement rather than style, balled up fists and an angry look in her eye that frightened even the hardened warrior. She was also wearing the same Orange star High badge as him.

'I don't know I just got here, some sort of holdup I think,' replied Gohan, hoping to seem nonchalant, but in reality coming off as suspicious as he nervously laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

'Yeah sure you were, now how about you cut the crap and tell me what happened,' It was then that she noticed the Orange star high school badge on his shirt. 'Wait shouldn't you be at school by now, class starts in ten minutes.'

'What! Really, ah I guess I got to go then! Bye!' he hurriedly exclaimed, jumping on any opportunity to escape. Taking a few quick steps to the nearest street corner he proceeded to bail from the scene at full speed in the vague direction of the school..

'_Oh crud, that's a great way to be introduced to my school, I just hope she forgets about me'_

Meanwhile a rather surprised looking Videl, after a brief moment of shock, had chased after her spiky-haired suspect only to discover that he'd vanished.

'_There's something strange about him,' _she thought, '_He clearly knew something, and I swear I've never seen him at school before. More importantly though, where did he disappear too, I could have sworn he ran up this street.'_

Shaking herself, and casting it from her mind, Videl decided that she had more important things to worry about; and so she went and listened to the report on the robbery this morning, in an attempt to figure out what had happened.

In the end though all she got was more confusion; she heard a clearly embellished story of golden haired fighter swinging the robbers around like ragdolls, and some nonsense about balls of light. It was completely ridiculous! Then again, looking at the state of the robbers and the bank, it wouldn't be too hard to believe that something big had hit the place. But based on the little that remained, it was almost impossible to tell what, especially since all of the cameras in the area had been fried by some sort of electrical interference. All she could do was sigh, hop into her jetcopter and head to school.

She'd have time to think about it and figure it out on the flight and at school, or so she'd hoped, for some reason though her thoughts kept turning back to that Orange star boy she'd interrogated earlier.

'_He's just suspicious,' _decided Videl, _'Maybe I'll run into him at school and be able to question him about it a bit more.'_

It was, she convinced herself, her only possible lead, and at the end of the day she had to take it.

...

Orange Star High School 8:30am

...

After fleeing from the girl and the bank incident, Gohan had managed to make it to the school without any significant problems. Sure the wake he created may have set off the occasional car alarm, or flung a child or eight, but all in all he'd made it to school hassle free. And from Gohan's history with cities, that made this a relatively good day.

Waiting at the front door of the school building he'd found the principal of the school. A short, balding, portly individual of middle years that seemed to switch between excitement at meeting Gohan and exhaustion from said excitement.

'Ahh Mr Son,' he called upon seeing Gohan, 'We've awaited your arrival with great anticipation.'

'It's an honour to meet you sir,' replied Gohan as he shook the principal's hand.

'Nonsense my boy, we're the ones who are honoured to have such a prestigious student in our midsts. Come come, let me show you to my office. We need to sign some papers and then I'll let you go and get all settled in.' and, true to his word, the principal, who Gohan later found out was named Mr Soseji, hucked up his pants and proceeded to waddle his way down the corridor.

Ten minutes, and several rest stops, later, Gohan found himself being lead into a large well furnished office, that to any other person, would all but scream of wealth and sophistication. This effect however was wasted on the teen.

'Well Mr Son, I have your entrance exam here,' said Mr Soseji picking up a paper as he heaved himself into the chair behind his desk, 'And I must say, it is extremely impressive. The highest score we've ever had, not a single mistake, fantastic work! Let's hope that you can keep it up!'

Gohan, blushing, embarrassed and hungry by now could only reply in a soft, 'Thank you sir.'

Not noticing his guests discomfit, the principal leaned back in his chair and continued to babble on to his new favourite student blissfully unaware how bored and self-conscious he was making the young man.

'I'm sure that in no time you'll be achieving at the top level and bringing glory to the school! And yourself of course. Why I just can't wai – oh! now there's the bell for first period, can't have you missing out any classes can we.'

'Err, no sir, we can't,' replied Gohan, who had long since stopped listening to the conversation only focusing on his words at the sound of a strange ringing.

'Well then, I have here you're timetable, you'll be having all your classes with the same group, makes things easier all around we feel, so you are assigned to class C. I trust you have your books? What am I saying of course you do, here's your locker key and you're all set. You're first class and home room is just down the corridor and to the right.'

'Thank you Mr Soseji'

'Not a problem, anything for our star pupil, now off you go, make me proud.'

'Yes Sir, thank you sir, I will try sir.' Mumbled Gohan, happy to be out of the office, and away from the man.

Gohan decided then that he'd try to spend as little time with the principal as possible, the man boring, unpleasant and smelt faintly of sausages; and for a saiyan that was a powerful distraction, almost too powerful for this particular saiyan.

Outside of the indicated room Gohan ran into a man who introduced himself as the class's home and Written word teacher, Mr Kotoba. He was an old man, easily into his 60's, with white hair, tufty eyebrows and a droop to his shoulders that spoke of years of struggling against years of student induced depression.

'Well I suppose it's good to see you Mr Son, it's probably good to get some new students, the new ones are usually brighter; at first anyway.' Droned Mr Kotoba, looking oddly saddened by this turn of events, 'I suppose I'll introduce you to the class then, let me see if I can quiet them down first though, they're probably hanging off the walls by now.'

With that Mr Kotoba proceeded to shuffle his way into the classroom gesturing for Gohan to follow; a look of abject misery on his features, a sharp counterpoint to Gohan, who, like all of Goku's ilk, seemed to exist in a perpetual state of barely contained joy.

And so it was that Gohan found himself smiling stupidly and rubbing the back of his head in the typical Son way, while next to him stood a seemingly clinically depressed geriatric on the verge of breaking into tears, and before him sat a crowd of 150 gawking teenagers, staring at him with an uncomfortable level interest.

...

Thanks for reading the first chapter, I look forward to any and all reviews.


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